Faith in Progress

Lent has begun and I thought I was ready for the change in seasons. Ready, first of all, for the great Children’s Ash Wednesday service that we do here at St. Aidan’s each year, one of my very favorite services. Ready for the change in vestments and Church décor. Ready also to have the extra push that I need to take my spirituality more seriously, to try to notice God acting in my life more intentionally. And ready, or so I would have predicted, to slow down. Lent is derived from a word which means “slow” and even though it tends to be one of the busiest times in the Church life, even so most of it tends to feel like it’s passing in slow motion. Maybe it’s partly because of the weather – often grey – and because at least in my house there seems to be a break between the fall and spring activities. But this time around, I am increasingly aware of the “slowness” factor as it is related to patience. I’m not sure why I hadn’t seen it before, since Lent has always been a time of waiting t

Sunday at church we had a special treat - the Sunday school kids led us in the most glorious Gloria ever.  They had been practicing the song "Alleluia, Praise ye the Lord" for weeks.  If you're unfamiliar with it, as I was, the kids divide up into two groups.  Everyone starts sitting down.  One group stands up and sings the "Alleluia" parts then sits back down, while the other group is responsible for singing "Praise ye the Lord" - also standing up and sitting back down.  Before they started, one intrepid Sunday schooler taught the congregation how to get involved - each side would take a role, following the lead of the kids up front.  It was fabulous - everyone got involved and we were all laughing and loving it.  I thought the kids looked great.  All but my own 3 year old (who is a little stage shy at times anyway) seemed to really know what they were doing, and better yet, seemed to be having fun doing it.  Only later did my daughter tell me that

Luke 4:21-30 “But passing through the midst of them he went away.” At first glance, this last line from this morning’s Gospel seemed like a perfect metaphor for this season of Epiphany. Jesus passes through the midst of the crowd. Which is, in a way, what Epiphany is all about – God making God’s self known in our midst, our learning to recognize God all around us. The problem of course, which is so often the problem with pieces of scripture that at first seem very promising, is that that isn’t all. The context isn’t the greatest – the crowd that Jesus is passing through the midst of just happens to be an angry, unruly, blood-thirsty mob. And there’s the small problem of the few words tacked on to the end of the hopeful part about passing through their midst – after passing through, “he went away.” I’d much prefer Jesus to have passed through their midst and then have them realize their error; or maybe Jesus could pass through their midst and they finally understand exactly who it w